1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner cartridge and a toner feeder for feeding toner to a developing apparatus in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus of an electro-photographic method such a copying machine, as a toner cartridge for feeding toner to a developing apparatus, a device that a feeding toner cartridge is mounted on the developing apparatus, and then the toner cartridge body is rotated, thus the switching member is rotated, and the outlet is opened is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application 8-95365. However, this conventional toner cartridge must be rotated after mounting on the developing apparatus, so that a space for rotating the toner cartridge is required in the image forming apparatus and miniaturization of the image forming apparatus body is disturbed.
On the other hand, in recent years, a device has been developed that using a shutter which slides in parallel with the toner cartridge mounting direction and opens or closes the toner feed port, the shutter slides and opens the toner feed port in correspondence with the sliding operation for mounting the toner cartridge on the developing apparatus and the shutter slides and closes the toner feed port in correspondence with the operation of pulling out the toner cartridge from the developing apparatus. When mounting or demounting the toner cartridge from the developing apparatus, there is no need to rotate the toner cartridge body, and the operation is easy, and the installation space can be reduced, and the image forming apparatus body is made more compact.
When the toner cartridge is to be mounted on the developing apparatus, the end of the shutter makes contact with the structure on the developing apparatus side and the shutter slides in the open direction. Thereafter, when the toner cartridge is to be pulled out from the developing apparatus, the shutter closes the toner feed port, so that the shutter is provided with an elastic hook which is partially deformed. Namely, when the toner cartridge is to be pulled out from the developing apparatus, the hook is restored by the elastic force to its original state that it is slightly projected from the shutter surface, and the hook is hooked on the projection formed on the developing apparatus side, thus the shutter is closed.
However, when the toner cartridge is mounted on the developing apparatus for many hours, the elastic force of the hook is deteriorated and there is the possibility that the hook is hardly restored to its original state. Therefore, when the toner cartridge is to be pulled out from the developing apparatus, the hook does not hook on the projection on the developing apparatus side, and the shutter is not closed, and the toner cartridge cannot be removed easily from the developing apparatus, and at the time of exchange of the toner cartridge, the peripheral part is soiled, and the operability may be lowered.
Therefore, a toner cartridge that the space is saved, and a shutter for surely opening and closing the toner feed port is provided, and excellent operability is realized is desired.
An object of the present invention is to surely open and close a toner feed port without performing an operation of rotation of the body of a toner cartridge by an operator after the toner cartridge is mounted on a developing apparatus, to make the body of an image forming apparatus more compact by space saving for toner cartridge installation, and to improve the operability of mounting and demounting of the developing apparatus.
According to the embodiment of the present invention, the toner cartridge comprises a container for storing toner which is mounted and rotated on a cartridge holder, a toner feed port formed on the mount on the cartridge holder of the container, a shutter for opening and closing the toner feed port by rotating round the toner feed port, and a rotation mechanism for rotating the shutter by a linear operation for mounting and demounting the container from the cartridge holder.
Furthermore, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the toner feeder comprises a cartridge holder for mounting in a removable state a toner cartridge having a cylindrical shutter for rotating round a toner feed port and opening and closing the toner feed port, and a rotation mechanism for inserting the toner cartridge into the cartridge holder by a linear operation, thereby rotating the shutter in the opening direction and pulling out the toner cartridge from the cartridge holder by the linear operation, thereby rotating the shutter in the closing direction.